—Chris Bradyand I flew up to Atlanta for a 6 hour mastermind session on Tuesday. Here is one of many concepts that were generated from brainstorming together. Generating ideas with Chris Brady is like drinking water from a firehose – fast and furious! I love our 17 year business partnership! LIFE is something special and I have never felt as good about community building as I do today. Laurie and I started a new leg 10 days ago and it is now over 10 levels in depth! The LIFE Business is good because it helps people become good in their Circle of LIFE. Here is Brady’s article explaining what our products do in a person’s life. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward—

Chris Brady dove in a little deeper: “I had a very engaging conversation with my friend and co-author Orrin Woodward today. As usual, we kicked around a ton of stimulating ideas and pieced together something that, in our estimation, will immediately convey greater understanding as to the purpose of the LIFE business. (See the inset diagram).

The CIRCLE of LIFE

In each of the 8 F categories of Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Following, Freedom, Friendship, and Fun, one can imagine a certain grade based upon how one is doing in that category. In the diagram the center represents horrible, as in, you are totally “stinking up the joint” (as my kids say) in a certain category. Working your way out from the center to the outer ring in any of the categories represents a stronger grade. So someone with a dot near the outer ring is doing well in that category. By connecting the dots on your subjective personal estimation of your life at this moment in each of the categories you can come up with a shape that roughly represents your life right now in each of the 8Fs.

Quite simply, the LIFE business supplies life-changing information to help you increase your score in each of the 8Fs. The goal is to take someone from the not-so-good black shape represented toward the center of the diagram to the much improved (and happier, we would think) life represented by the red outline toward the outer ring of the circle.

Who doesn’t have at least a category or two, or three, or eight, in which he or she would like to have a better score? Who wouldn’t want to transform his or her life from the tiny blob (and who among us hasn’t felt like a tiny blob from time to time?) in the center to the big wheel (and who hasn’t wanted to be a big wheel at least once in his or her life?) toward the outer ring?

That’s it. From little blob to big wheel.

But all kidding aside. This CIRCLE of LIFE is the snap-shot diagram to which people can easily relate when it comes to understand the goal of LIFE and the life-changing information we offer. We will help people learn and apply truth in each category and thereby improve their shape. ” – Chris Brady

The basics, of all this, is that we all are given a wheel. Whether it be one built for the track, the farm, or just a skate board, they need to be shaped right to do the purpose they were made for.

In my short time on this planet, I have noticed that most people want to trade their wheel in for a different one. Or they are constantly looking for a better model in their own class. The truth is that God made us all with the ability to make decisions. We choose to be ‘flat’, ‘over-inflated’, or of ‘optimal pressure’. (Isn’t that so true– You need pressure to be optimal! and that all wheels are “round” — a size most want to stay away from). Plug in with those that God put’s in your path with success in one or more of the 8F’s. You will watch those dimples, bulges, flats, weak side-walls, and even holes, repair with the right equipment.

In the shadow of Veterans’ Day, we look toward and remember the sacrifices of men and women throughout history whom protected the innocent with their lives and sacred honor. You will see courage come through the story of Master Sergeant Benavidez which I retold recently or the above picture of the troops storming Normandy. But it is greatly needed today on the battlefield of the American mind and heart!

Bill Lewis, co-founder of LIFE, published a blog about the state of integrity and courage in today’s news. It is a must read for all Americans. Follow his link on the right of this page to ‘What has happened to America’s character‘. It brings the value of courage and fear face-to-face with reality. I compel you, also, to listen to LLR 509 – The Churchill Factor by Kirk Birtles, because Kirk expresses how to overcome the issues in war for the minds of men. I will allow you to hear it for yourself, but he talks about it in a conversation with Orrin Woodward about the fear of man. Orrin had told Kirk that he fears no man. If only North American men could develop the thoughts Orrin expressed to Kirk and back them through Christian foundations, where would we be? Men should look to protect the innocent and expose the wrongs. The leadership fell apart on a university campus secondary to a lack of courage to do what is right.

I recently heard a pastor speak on this issue of courage. He gave four points to improving our courage.

1) Courage is Purpose Driven. If asked of your purpose, how would you answer? Would you state it boldly and it is seen in your eyes as truth? Are you taking each step with specific intent? As a Christian man or woman, do you use every moment to glorify God? Life is all about the line between your purpose-filled goal and where you are right now. We each have the ability to control distractions that make curves in the line.

2) Courage is Persistent. “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials” I Peter 1:6. Do you stop at trials? Is it a ‘no matter what’ or is it a ‘if only’? Can you be called ‘tenacious’? We will make endurance our ally. I would encourage each of you to listen to ‘Rascal‘ by Chris Brady. It can be found attached to the back cover of Brady’s book with the same title.

3) Courage is Prepared to Die or Live. There is joy in serving. Not just jumping on the hand grenade for your comrades, but living a life of example for them. We should be always doing our homework: listening to experience through seminars or CD’s and challenging our assumptions through books. Working out mentally and physically for our time when it arrives.

4) Courage is Pervasively Contagious. You are the best motivation for your family, team, or associates. Compel people to be courageous and integrity-filled through your actions. It is said that true leadership is found in the front. As you proceed forward, others will follow.

Bill Lewis took the time to share his heart on the current issues plaguing character. But what is even more powerful is Bill’s courageous walk in LIFE and modeling the correct behaviors in all of his 8 F’s. He knows we can change our expected future only with courage. Thanks, Bill!

Chris Brady recently published a blog, “Francis of Assisi was no Sissy”(I highly recommend it read it on chrisbrady.typepad.com). It retells the story of a small, humble man who changed the world through boldness and courageous acts. This article prompted me to think about the underlying characteristic of all the 8F’s(Faith, Family, Finance, Following, Friends, Fun, Fitness, Freedom) which is courage.

Now when someone thinks, sees, or even writes the word courage, a river of images flood our consciousness. Some may be of Medal of Honor winners. Some may be of acts like the Tiananmen Square “tank man” or Martin Luther nailing the Ninety-Five Theses to the church in 1517. It may even conjure up thoughts of the wagon-trains heading west to make their land claim. Multiple different sources define the world differently, but I feel we each have a feeling of the act of courage. I once heard Chuck Cullen – a LIFE leader say,”when a brave man stands, the spines of other men stiffen”. Now that is a powerfully true statement. I impress upon you to look up: LLR 481 – Risk, Fear, and Worry by Bill Lewis, and Courage by Gus Lee. Both can found on the LIFE Business site at www.the-life-business.com. Each will give insight into making Courage a mainstay of your life.

I recently came across a story of a gentleman, Roy P. Benavidez, whom holds the rank of Master Sergeant. To say his story moved me is a very, gross understatement. This man embodies the act of courage. I pray I do him justice with this retelling of his story and you tell everyone you can of the men and women just like him.

Special Forces master sergeant Roy Benavidez was the son of a Texas sharecropper. Orphaned at a young age, and derided as a “dumb Mexican” by his classmates, he left school in the eighth grade to work. He joined the army at nineteen and went on his first tour in Vietnam in 1964. During his tour, he stepped on a land mine and the wound was to be permanently crippling. I wasn’t. He not only recovered, but became a Green Beret! On his second tour of Vietnam, in the early morning of May 2, 1968 near Loc Ninh, Sergeant Benavidez monitored by radio a twelve-man reconnaissance patrol. Three Green Berets, friends of his, and nine Montagnard tribesmen had been dropped in the dense jungle west of Loc Ninh. Once on the ground, the men were immediately engaged with the North Vietnamese army. They became surrounded by an entire battalion.

It had become very obvious that the mission had become a mistake. Three helicopters were sent to evacuate the men. Fierce Small arms and antiaircraft fire, wounding several crew members of the choppers, forced the helicopters to return to the base empty-handed. As Sergeant Benavidez continued to monitor the radio, he heard his friends scream “Get us out of here” and “So much shooting it sounded like a popcorn machine”. So he grabbed only a knife and a medic bag and volunteered for a second evac attempt. He arrived on the scene, to find that none of the men had made it to the LZ. Four were already dead, including the team leader and the other eight were wounded and unable to move. Benavidez made the sign of the cross, leapt from the helicopter which had been hovering 10 feet above the ground. He ran the seventy yards between the LZ and the men. Before reaching the men, he was shot in the leg, face, and head. He simply got up and kept moving.

When he reached the men, he armed himself with an enemy rifle, began to treat the wounded, reposition them, distribute ammunition, and call in air strikes. He threw smoke grenades to indicate their location and ordered the helicopter pilot to come in close to pick up the wounded. He dragged four of the wounded aboard, and then, while under intense fire and returning fire with his captured rifle, he ran alongside the chopper as it flew just a few feet off the ground toward the others. He got the rest of the wounded aboard, as well as the dead, except for the fallen team leader. As he raced to retrieve his body, and the classified documents he carried, Benavidez was shot in the stomach and grenade fragments cut into his back.

Before he could make his way back toward the helicopter, the pilot was killed and the aircraft crashed upside down. He helped the wounded escape the burning wreckage and organized them in a defensive perimeter. He called for more air strikes and fire from circling gunships to suppress the enemy fire enough to allow another evac attempt. Critically wounded, Benavidez moved constantly along the perimeter, bringing water and ammunition to the defenders, treating their wounds, encouraging them to hold on. He sustained several more gunshot wounds, but he continued to fight for the next six hours!

When another extraction helicopter landed, he helped the wounded into it, one and two at a time. On his second trip, an enemy soldier ran up behind him and struck him with his rifle butt. Sergeant turned toward the man and fought him, hand to hand to the death. Wounded again, he recovered the rest of his friends. As the last were lifted onto the helicopter, he exchanged more gunfire with the enemy, killing two more North Vietnamese soldiers, and then ran back to collect the classified documents before climbing aboard and apparently dead. The doctor at Loc Ninh thought him dead anyway. Bleeding profusely, his intestines spilling from his stomach wounds, completely immobile, and unable to speak, the Sergeant was placed in a body bag. As the zipper was being pulled up, he spit in the doctor’s face. They flew him to Saigon for surgery and spent the next year in the hospital recovering from seven serious gunshot wounds, twenty-eight shrapnel wounds, and bayonet wounds in both arms.—-taken from ‘Why Courage Matters’ by J. McCain.

Hope this helps in a vivid picture of Courage. Make your LIFE courageous! Aron

Through the thinking and experience of Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, the LIFE business will provide not only an avenue of wealth, but an amazing center for mentoring/life coaching.

On my way home tonight my car started acting up. A little chugging and a little sputtering with increased shaking as speeds increased. And as expected, I received the good old ‘service engine soon’ light.

This light appeared bright and continuous. It beckoned me to pull over and check the engine. Multiple things could be wrong and likely more things are worsening as the drive continues. What do most people do? ‘If it is still driving, let’s at least get home.’ ‘Please don’t die now’ – and continue to drive. ‘It’s probably nothing’. Once we get home, the key is turned off and the light goes off. The next comment out of our mouth is, ‘I will deal with it tomorrow’. For some this saga continues till the car is being towed behind a tow truck heading to the junk yard or to the repair shop for a total overhaul.

How similar do things in our life happen as we are just cruising through life. All of our 8 F’s (Faith, Family, Friends, Finances, Fun, Following, Freedom, Fitness) appear to be good then something happens. We start chugging along in life. Our marriage starts to go flat. Our finances seems to be running on empty. Our fitness needs a big change and maybe even a new filter. Fun? What is that? And so on, probably 80 more Fs we could talk about! Unlike a car, we don’t notice our ‘service engine soon’ light. When that little light starts glowing bright, it becomes very evident to get some repairs for our vehicle. Would it not be nice to have these with our life?!

We do! But we must allow someone else to see it and help us with the repair. The true power of mentoring or Life coaching has two sides: a hungry student and an integrity-filled mentor. This mentor is not an advisor (all theory), but someone whom has been through the minefield of life and helps through experience. I have been able to see this and experience this coaching through the men of Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady, and Bill Lewis. These are men that are bent on giving themselves a ‘check-up from the neck up’ and helping ours through grace and love to do the same thing. Through the recent launch of LIFE, they can now take that heart-felt coaching mainstream! Anyone can grab ahold of CD’s and books and be part of an association that will help identify our ‘engine’ problem. Then like a repair manual, give us insight on the how to change.

Now as the service engine light comes on, use the power of LIFE with Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady to get the tune up.